A’s lone All-Star, Trevor Cahill, won’t be eligible to play

It’s official, Trevor Cahill’s remarkable season, which took him from the losing side of the fifth-starter battle to the DL to Triple-A has now culminated in an All-Star selection. Talk about an extra degree of difficulty – Cahill didn’t even come up until the end of April, and only because Brett Anderson went on the DL.

What stinks for Cahill, though he is really very much happy just to be going, is that he won’t be eligible to play in the game in Anaheim on July 13 because he is starting a week from today. He noted that Andrew Bailey didn’t get into last year’s game, though he was eligible, and, Cahill said, “Looking at the list of all the arms, there’s a slim chance I’d pitch anyway.”

You’ll recall that Barry Zito is the first pitcher this happened to – he’d pitched on the Sunday before the 2003 game, and that presented an opportunity to wedge Roger Clemens onto the roster. It all happened at the last second, Zito wasn’t told by the league but found out from reporters – he was not pleased at all. It was a weird scene. Finally, this year, it’s been made official. Sunday starters aren’t eligible and their active spots can be replaced.

Well, maybe they can replace him with Andrew Bailey so A’s fans can have at least the potential of getting to see one of their players participate. Isn’t that the whole idea behind having at least one representative from each team? If that guy is ineligible, the team should have at least one other representative who is eligible, in the spirit of the All-Star Game, especially now with the vastly expanded rosters.

I still believe Kurt Suzuki to be the most deserving potential All-Star on the team; his importance to this club is greatly overlooked. He’d be my pick, and I’m hoping maybe he’ll get the spot that should be open because of Victor Martinez’s injury. Of Suzuki, Cahill said, “He does so many things right. People don’t see that if they don’t see him every day. Without him, our team wouldn’t be anywhere close to where it is.”

**UPDATE**John Buck is among the AL reserves, and apparently he’s getting the Martinez spot. And with the re-insertion rule for catchers now (how many changes can they make in this game?) the All-Star teams really only need two catchers, and the AL has Joe Mauer and Buck. Grrrrrr.

Cahill thought that Bailey would be the pick, so he was extra surprised in that sort of non-demonstrative way of his.

I’m convinced Conor Jackson will go on the DL, even more so now. Manager Bob Geren lumped Jackson in with Brett Anderson and Dallas Braden when he was talking about return dates. He then clarified that by saying Jackson will get re-evaluated in Oakland tomorrow, but unless he’s made some sort of full recovery in a day from that hamstring issue, there’s no way the A’s go into the Yankees series short. Matt Carson, come on down. Or maybe Matt Watson; he’d be a nice pick (and an even better story with his circular journey) and the team can just put Travis Buck on the 60-day DL. He’s not there already is he? I’m kind of losing track. Buck is taking batting practice and doing “baseball skills” in Arizona today, but he’s been out since late April. He’s not going to be back any time soon.

Anderson is throwing a simulated game right about now in Phoenix, 20 pitches.